The Wild East


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For the past three years, myself (AL) and Mark have backpacked the less popular regions of Eastern Europe. These bizarre and unusual adventures are known as "The Wild East"

What countries does it include?
All the ex-communist countries of Europe and the former USSR. Also includes Turkey. Does not include western Europe (Greece, Spain, Germany etc)- they are part of the ‘Ruthless West’. The idea was taken from the ill-fated travels of Sam Garforth and his friend, John, who travelled round Poland and Romania in 1992 with disastrous consequences. Type “Sam Garforth” to a search engine to read the whole story (it’s a long one).

Where did it all start?
Mark first went to Eastern Europe (and Egypt) in the summer of 1999 on a package deal with Contiki, and two friends of mine at university went to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that same summer. This got me seriously interested in the area. I bought the Lonely Planet “Eastern Europe” guide in Oct ’99 and, after scanning through it, I realised I had to go the following summer.

Common misconceptions:

  • Everywhere in E Eur is dirty. In fact everywhere is cleaner than Britain
  • Everywhere is dirt-cheap. Usually it is cheaper than Britain, but it’s not very common to find accommodation for less than £5 each per night. However, compared to the prices of similar accommodation in Western Europe it’s quite good.
  • E Eur is crime-ridden and dangerous. I think most of the UK is much worse. Organised crime/various mafia do control large sections of the economy in the former USSR. The mafia are ‘businessmen’ and ex-KGB. They have no interest in robbing tourists and prefer to concentrate on more lucrative ventures, such as dubious privatisations of state-owned property, and threatening businessmen. Tourists are much more at risk from street criminals and thieves.
  • All the girls are very ugly. Totally the opposite!
  • E Eur means Prague, Poland, Budapest etc. Prague/Budapest is now almost Western Europe. True Eastern Europe has migrated eastwards- Albania, Ukraine, Russia are ‘real’ E Europe.

Why don’t they go to ‘normal’ countries? What is a normal country?
I’ve been to Majorca many times with my parents, but you’re not seeing real Spain. We prefer to go to places that are not overrun by British/German/Scandinavian tourists. Wild East never goes to crazy places (Chechnya, Iraq, Liberia, Afghanistan etc)

Highlights

  • Few tourists (except for most of Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, which have been taken over by backpackers).
  • The cost.
  • British people are usually seen as rare, respectful guests (though recently in Prague, large groups of British men have acquired reputations of loud, drunken yobs).
  • Good food (sometimes)

    Lowlights

  • Bus and train stations post timetables that are out of date.
  • Public transport can be infrequent, or arrives/leaves at inconvenient times.
  • Visas are required for most of USSR, which are expensive and troublesome to acquire. On a more positive note, only the dedicated few make the effort to go.
  • Taxi-drivers etc. trying to rip-off their passengers (eastern Europeans are ripped-off as well, but their favourite dish is ‘the westerner’.
  • Foreigner pricing (former USSR) where foreigners are legally required to pay up to 5 times as much as locals.


    What is the attractions of this part of the world?